AIMS Meeting

The AIMS Meeting (Annual International (Bio)Medical Students Meeting) is the largest congress organised by medical students in Europe and a project led by the Student Association of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. It is aimed at all students in the Health field.

The first edition of the AIMS Meeting was held in 2009 under the name National Meeting of Young Medical Students (ENJOY Med) and arose from the need felt by the students to create an innovative space for disseminating science, to complement the Faculty’s programme. In 2011, the congress grew to an international scale and changed its name to AIMS Meeting.

In 2017, the AIMS Meeting had 750 participants, 118 of which were foreign, from 18 different countries, and relied on the collaboration of more than 200 health professionals. These figures allowed asserting the AIMS Meeting as the largest congress of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world.

The tenth annual congress is due to take place from 14 to 17 March 2019 and is currently being prepared by the Organising Committee of the 10th AIMS Meeting, composed of 23 students of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon.

Following a growth strategy, the next edition of the AIMS Meeting will have 900 national and international participants and will take place, for the first time, at the Aula Magna of the Rectory of the University of Lisbon.

For the first time ever, the scientific programme of the tenth edition of the AIMS Meeting will include two speakers who have been awarded the Nobel Prize. The congress will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Harald Zur Hausen, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Professor Aaron Ciechanover, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The 10th AIMS Meeting is also going to offer dozens of workshops for complementary training in Medicine, clinical, scientific and research competitions with prize money, national and international internships on offer, and a cultural and social programme.

In order to become such a major event, the AIMS Meeting relies on the collaboration of various private entities which provide logistical and financial support, ensuring the viability of this non-profit project.

The AIMS Masterclasses were created in 2013 with the aim of bringing the FMUL students closer to the AIMS Meeting and offering yet another practical complement to their curricular education. This pre-congress event reserved for FMUL students gives participants the opportunity to attend inspiring lectures and take part in a workshop selected among the highest rated in the AIMS Meeting.

The sixth edition of the AIMS Masterclasses took place on October 30 and brought together nearly 400 students.

The event featured three inspiring lectures under the title “A Case to Remember,” in which respected physicians talked about the most striking cases of their careers. In the João Lobo Antunes Grand Auditorium, which was full, the attendees heard first-person accounts about patients who made the difference and remained forever in the memory of the speakers. The innovative and inspirational nature of the AIMS Masterclasses lectures are an incentive to the participants and has contributed to the success of this initiative with an ever-growing audience.

In addition to the lectures, the participants took part in a practical or theoretical/practical workshop. In 21 different workshops, the students had the opportunity to acquire key skills for any future physician, in techniques such as sutures, laparoscopy, punctures, biopsies, but also techniques related to specialities such as orthopaedics, ENT, neurology, among others.

After the event, the participants are asked to complete an assessment survey that allows the Organising Committee to ascertain whether it has fulfilled the proposed objectives and identify aspects to be improved in future editions.

This type of initiatives allows providing participants with essential tools for their development as physicians and fill possible gaps in the academic training of medical students.

Furthermore, the practical component allows them to become aware of the physician’s reality early on, something that is particularly important for the younger students.

In short, what drives the Organising Committee of the AIMS Meeting is to enable students to take a further step in the long journey that is their training and bring them closer to the physicians they wish to become.